**Please Note: You must scroll to the bottom of this post and click on the text link to download the presentation. I am not able to individually email copies of the presentation at this time.** A new school year brings another round of School Counselor Intro lessons. Last year, I attempted to combine my meet the counselor lesson with a bullying lesson to save time but it really wasn't effective. After trying to kill two birds with one stone, I've come to the belief that elementary school counselors should have a separate intro lesson. Reasons why I didn't like combining
Interested in teaching an introduction to using Photoshop CS6 or CS5 in a fun and engaging way? This Introduction to Photoshop CS6 Unit Plan includes everything you need to get started teaching your students basic graphic design skills. The 7 day lesson plan includes a daily outline along with requi...
Teach the scientific method to your students through these engaging science experiments! Check out this blog post to learn more!
Help kindergarteners compare length & use appropriate vocabulary with this FREE "Shorter and Longer" activity. Great hands on practice for comparing length.
Get everything you need to teach an introduction to art class with this middle school art or high school art curriculum. 15 projects, 48 activities.
A great science introduction that introduces your students to science and its processes and helps you gain important insight into your students.
Hello Friends!! Happy Memorial Day weekend, the official start to the summer season here at the Jersey shore!!As excited as I am, we still have about three and half weeks left in this school year
Learn more about creating a classroom handbook flipbook that houses all of your back to school info in one handout, and parents will actually keep it.
These editable Meet the SLP, SLT, SLPA introduction letters are a great way to connect with families at the beginning of a new school year! Edit your intro letter on Google Slides and then download them as a PDF to print or email your introduction letter to parents & caregivers! *Now includes version for Meet the SLPA! What's Included: 1. Editable Templates Templates are editable on Google Slides There are color and black and white versions Versions for SLP's, SLT's, & SLPA's Edit all of the text except for the headings (Meet the SLP/SLT/SLPA, About Me, Contact Me) Easily insert a photo of yourself - great for school SLP's who only see families at IEP meetings Photos are shaped as circle and rectangle - you can also upload any shaped photo or use the "Mask Image" tool to change it to a variety of shapes 2. Two Versions Colorful version - great for sharing with families digitally Ink saving version - low color option & black and white option YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE Editable Monthly Newsletter Templates End of the Year Have a Good Summer Notes to Students Back to School Activities EARN TPT CREDITS Leave feedback on paid products and you can build up FREE TPT credits that can be applied to future purchases. LET'S CONNECT Follow along for activity ideas, sales, information on giveaways, freebies, & more! > Follow on TpT > Instagram > Facebook > Pinterest Feel free to reach out with any questions: [email protected]
A blog about school counseling and school counseling resources
Teaching music with fun, tried & tested lessons, DIY classroom projects & ideas your students will love with Tracy King, the Bulletin Board Lady.
As more and more research comes out about the power of Growth Mindset and more and more people are leaning towards this line of thinking (heck, even my District is getting on board...they talked about it at a training I went to over the summer!), I figured that this would be as good a time as any to teach my students about their own brains and mindset. So I began my first week of school with a few lessons that really set a great tone for my students. To begin, I wanted something tangible and hands-on for my students to experience. So I searched online and found this lesson here. In a nutshell, I folded some paper in a crazy figure (that didn't actually look all crazy...until I tried to make it...go to the blog for exact instructions) and told the students they needed to recreate it. I had them get into groups of 7-8 students, put the figure in the middle and gave them each the exact same piece of paper I used. There were only two rules: They could not touch the folded paper and they could not have a second piece of paper. Most of the students got right to it. As they were working, I walked around with a clipboard and wrote down everything that I was hearing in the groups. At the beginning, I heard things like: This is easy. Look, we just fold it this way and then that. Let me get my scissors and we can all just cut it. Hmmm....I wonder how she did that. Can you just show me what you are doing? Then, as time went on and recreating the folded paper wasn't as easy as they thought, the narrative started to change. I started to hear: Wait, what? This isn't going to work. I can't get this. What did you do? Seriously, she had to use tape. How did she get that part? Let's only do one paper at a time in case we make a mistake. This was also the time when I started to see some kids just sit back and watch. They stopped trying altogether and just let everyone else experiment. I also noticed some kids taking charge completely and not letting others have opinions. Then, towards the end, I heard: This is impossible. I give up. I just can't do this. What on earth did she do? She used magic. After about 10 minutes of working, I called them all together again (no one was able to fold it correctly), I showed the students what they said. It was a bit eye-opening for them to see that some just quit so early on or that they declared the task impossible. Clearly it wasn't, as I had just folded the paper. They just wanted me to tell them the answer. This then lead into a nice discussion about the basic principles of growth mindset. That you have to keep going and trying. That your brain was meant to learn. So I passed out a quiz that I got from Angela Watson of the Cornerstone for Teachers. (she has a whole Growth Mindset pack that is really useful) They took the quiz, which asks questions about whether students think they can learn and grow or if they were just born that way. Then, we watched a video that Angela links from the Khan Academy about the fact that our brains were born to learn. We wrote down many ideas from the video, the biggest being that failure = growing. That REALLY stuck with them. I then asked the students to write down all of the words they could think of that pertained to their idea of what it means that "you were born to learn." The more important words, in their opinion, were to be larger than the less important words. Effectively, they were making a free form word cloud. I then took their picture as if they were screwing in a lightbulb, glued it onto the word cloud they created, and using tissue paper, they formed a "lightbulb" above their hand. All in all, this was a fabulous way to introduce the idea of growth mindset to my students. This entire process took two days to complete, but it was well worth it. The students continue to make connections to that first video from Khan Academy and refer to the idea of "failure = growing" still. I am also finding that there is just a much more positive tone in class because of it. I can't wait to continue on with future lessons. Have you delved into growth mindset? What are your experiences?
The first week of school generally consists of getting to know one another, in addition to discussion and practice of classroom procedures and routines. We also got our creative juices flowing by creating summer reflection writing pieces, squiggle stories, and "All About Me" mini-posters. Students are getting to know one another and me, and we are learning to work together to build a successful and positive classroom environment. On Wednesday, I wrote out six questions, all having to do with how to make our classroom and ourselves function to the highest level, on six pieces of chart paper. Students, in groups of three, spent two minutes at each chart, collaborating and responding to each question on a sticky note. After all groups visited each chart paper station, I hung all of the charts up and we discussed each answer and noticed some very interesting trends. Here's the finished product, which you can click on to enlarge: Inspired by Life in 4B To tie into the previous activity, I was inspired by my wonderful teammates, Mrs. Fadden and Ms. Mattox, to develop at class pledge with my students. We reviewed our responses to the above questions, and then we put all of the ideas together to form a cohesive paragraph that we have all agreed will help us to remember why we are here at school and what our common goal is. Below is the rough draft of our class pledge (which I will type up, make pretty, and have all of my students sign): Since we were able to develop a class goal (to achieve success in third grade), I also had each student determine an individual goal after reading the story Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni. I displayed our "Hopes and Dreams" for third grade near the classroom door, so that we can refer to, and revisit, them throughout the year. Lots of students are interested in learning how to sharpen their cursive skills, multiplication and division skills. I was very impressed by the number of students ready to take on our 40 book challenge! More on that later! Here's our class display of our hopes and dreams for third grade: Lastly, I read a book called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The premise is that everyone carries an invisible bucket everywhere they go. When your bucket is "filled" you feel happy.When your bucket is "empty" you feel sad or upset. People can fill buckets by lending a helping hand, smiling, being kind, including others in games, and more. People can empty buckets by teasing, being ungrateful, acting disrespectfully, and more. I encourage my students to recognize the actions of bucket-fillers by writing them quick note and sticking it in their bucket display. This helps make everyone feel good. When we feel good, we want others to feel good. Therefore, kindess is passed from person to person. This is our bucket-filling display, complete with ways we can fill buckets and ways we can empty buckets: I look forward to more of these types of meaningful activities that promote teamwork, kindness, and achievement with your child!
Planning for the first week of school can be overwhelming! Here are my first week of school lesson plans and resources.
Engaging 'Meet the Counselor' lessons, and activities to introduce the roles of school counselors, social workers, and school psychologists to various grade levels.
Intro to Visualizing and Verbalizing. Summer 2012. Do Now. What do good readers do?. Mindset. Objectives. Understanding and implementing specific strategies to explicitly develop the imagery-language connection is a crucial piece to meeting our learners needs.
New to functions? Check out this intro to functions lesson that includes mapping diagrams, domain, and range.
Do you and I run in the same circles? Doubt it. Although we do share at least one circle: teaching. Right? And if you and I ha...
Build classroom community this back to school season with this year long writing project that will engage and connect students all year long! Building classroom community and teaching letter writing has never been easier with these simple steps.
Virtual icebreakers are perfect for getting students introduced to one another. They help encourage students to get to know one another better.
Introducing ourselves to students is so important! We want students to feel connected to us so they are comfortable around us in the future. These Google Slides can help make your introduction counselor lesson engaging and purposeful as you start off a new school year! Lesson Recommendation - I recommend using each slide as a way to engage students in conversation about what they already know about the school counselor, and to help answer any questions they may have. It’s possible students may not know the answers, so this is a great opportunity to teach them all about the importance of your role on campus. Editable Slides - I have made several of the slides editable. I recommend adding your own personal information so the students can make connections to you and get to know you better. You will be asked to click a link to make a copy of these Google Slides. Here is what's included: - Editable personal slides - a place to include pictures or words about yourself - True/False questions about a counselor's job - 2 Unscramble Activity slides - Students can work individually or in groups to try to unscramble the words to form a sentence about the counselor. Make sure to check out the Meet The School Counselor Bundle for some other activities to go along with this lesson! I hope you enjoy!
Intro to Sewing Circuits for Schools: This guide is focused on helping students who have never sewn learn some hand sewing tips, AND sew their first circuit! With this project, your students will make their learning visible. Plus, it is a really easy project for students new to sewing, …
This pendant banner comes with three different styles of pendants that can be connected with string to create a full class banner. This is a great get-to-know-you activity that can be displayed throughout the year. Copy onto different colored paper or encourage students to color the background so ev...
Get everything you need to teach an introduction to art class with this middle school art or high school art curriculum. 15 projects, 48 activities.
Learn how to create a successful introduction to art curriculum by starting with the basics, scaffolding, and mixing activities and projects.
I have updated this link with a freebie! Click here to get there. "No, David" is one of our favorite books to begin the year or use anytime we need a little review of what our classroom expectations are. One corner of our classroom is devoted to David and our school rules. We read the book several times then the students chose one rule they thought was especially important to them and they typed their rule during Computer Lab time. Then each student created a picture of David and they turned out AMAZING! We had so much fun with David this year that we decided to use iMovie to create a short video of David following the rules and showed the video to the entire school. How FUN! If you would like to view the video you can see it on my classroom webpage. The poster shown above was printed at Staples. I used PhotoShop to edit the title to fit our lesson and class.
Happy Sunday, friends! I went back to school this week on Wednesday for professional development. I still have another week of PD before school starts on the 25th! We've slowly been getting open house packets together and something I wanted to share with you is my welcome letter! I think it's so important to have a warm welcoming letter to your parents when they come for meet the teacher night. There is always so much going on that you're lucky to talk to each parent for just a minute! So, the first thing that I always place in my student's packet is a welcome letter! This "a few of my favorites" idea came from the fabulous Cara Carroll! I started it 2 years ago and my parents really pay attention to them! I've had parents bring me a random Sonic cherry coke after school or a latte in the morning. Bless them!! If you're wanting to create your own letter just like mine, click HERE to get the editable {FREE} version. Just click inside the text boxes and insert your text! I have left links to the fonts that I used to create my letter.
This back to school "snowball" fight activity will have your students getting up and out of their seats moving around the room to get to know each other.
Now, for some reason the IPG (Instructional Planning Guide) in my district says to start 4th grade with arrays, factors, and multiples. A...
Looking for homeostasis lessons that work? Try a lab exercise and homeostasis to help make it concrete and get kids curious.
Start the Year Off With a Classroom Mantra % %
Have parents fill out this Back to School form at Meet the Teacher Night to open a positive line of communication and get to know their child.
The download includes: An introductory PowerPoint focusing on the Tudor Dynasty and how it relates to The Prince and the Pauper A narrated video version of the introductory PowerPoint (great for flipped classrooms) Notes for students to fill in while they view the introductory PowerPoint or video Directions and resources for a mini-research project and presentation of Tudor society including self and group evaluations as well as a grading rubric A PowerPoint lesson to help students understand how to read the Tudor / Elizabethan dialect in the book with a translation practice activity Bookmarks for students that have the Tudor family tree and a list of common Tudor phrases with translations A research assignment covering sumptuary laws Visual Thinking Routine: 3-2-1 Bridge (great to do with research assignments) A 96-question open-response short answer study guide organized by chapter including an answer key A Prezi version of the study guide where the question is shown, and then the presentation zooms in to the answer (great for review or for guiding students when grading work) A multiple-choice and short essay study guide for The Prince and the Pauper (also appropriate for quizzes and other assessments) organized into eight sections with answer keys. A close reading PowerPoint to guide students through a more in-depth analysis of The Prince and the Pauper. There is a word cloud for each chapter with a guiding question to help students to review the chapter. Additional slides highlight key passages and prompt textual analysis, with a strong emphasis on making inferences, understanding irony, and identifying figurative language. Each slide also features teacher's notes with the answers to all questions that are posed on the slides and additional background information to help with student comprehension. A separate PowerPoint containing all of the word clouds from the Close Reading PowerPoint. Plot notes for students to complete while reading the novel, including a place to record important quotes. A graphic organizer review guide for the novel, focusing on themes, types of irony, and figurative language. The Prince and the Pauper Test, which includes more extended essay questions Essay Assignment: Compare the Novel to a Film Version (can be used with any novel) the essay prompt, prewriting worksheet, detailed essay outline, transitional language chart, creative sentence starters, self-editing worksheet, grading rubric, and student reflection prompt Questions on the assessments are multiple choice, multiple-answer, true/false, and short essay. They include simple comprehension and more complex questions that require students to make inferences using textual support, explain irony, and recognize figurative language. Some questions also prompt students to research further in order to fully answer the question. This research may be as simple as consulting the notes and annotations section of their book, or it may require a brief internet investigation. Please download the preview file to get a better sense of the range of questions. Many of these items may be purchased separately. Click Here. Character Analysis Unit Irony Lesson Elements of Plot Lesson Figurative Language Project Point of View Lesson Comparison Essay: Novel vs. Film Grammar & Sentence Mechanics Novel Study Graphic Design Check out the website Tech Tools for Teachers!
Fully editable graphic organizer (2 versions) and 3 pages of name games and community building games to use during a "meet the teacher" period or the first week of class. When students are finished, use the organizers as beginning of the year bulletin board decorations, then as portfolio cover sheet...
Teaching the “skills of science” is of the utmost importance. I cannot stress this enough! Yes, the "content of science" is important, but the content cannot be taught to our students until the skills are taught to our students. Scientific method, metric measurement, scientific notation, prefixes and suffixes, significant figures, compare/contrast, problem solving, critical thinking, dimensional analysis, proper use of lab equipment, scientific writing ... these are the skills I am referring to. If the skills are taught properly at the beginning of the school year, your students will be equipped with the tools they need to be successful for the rest of the year. Science is more than the memorization of a long list of facts. Science is problem solving, analyzing, predicting and experimenting. Make the teaching of basic science skills a priority in your class. In a previous article, I talked about the importance of graphing skills. Today, I want to talk about the importance of being able to apply the scientific method. The key word here is...... apply. You may be thinking, "I teach the scientific method every year during the first week of school." Many teachers have their students write down the 5 or 6 steps to scientific method, define some keywords such as hypothesis, variable, and theory, re-state the 6 steps on a test, and .... DONE! Time to move on to the next topic. We can do better than that. Teaching our students how to apply the steps of the scientific method is not easy, and it takes up quite a bit of valuable class time. We have to create lessons that teach the application of the scientific method, not lessons that teach the memorization of the scientific method. At the beginning of the school year we should give assignments that: Reinforce graphing skills. Teach students to interpret and analyze graphs. Provide writing prompts to teach students how to design a controlled experiment. Teach students to identify the independent and dependent variables in an experiment. Teach students how to apply the scientific method to a particular scenario. Give students practice in scientific writing. Please get away from using only multiple choice, true and false, and matching questions. I try as much as possible to have my students WRITE. It is very time consuming to grade, but when students are asked "to design an experiment to show..." , you are teaching so many of the above skills. And you are not just teaching the scientific method. You are reinforcing critical thinking, problem solving, and best of all, good writing skills. If you are just beginning to develop lessons on the scientific method, download my FREE Scientific Method PowerPoint. This is a 26 slide PowerPoint presentation on the nature of science and the scientific method. The slides are colorful and visually appealing. Steps of the scientific method are covered, but more importantly, the lesson provides examples and practice problems illustrating the application of the scientific method. Analysis questions and answers are included. The download also includes 4 pages of notes for the teacher and a 5 page outline of the notes for the student. Now take your students to the lab and see how well they can apply what they have learned about the scientific method. My free "Can Your Students Write a Clear and Concise Procedure" is a great introduction into scientific writing. It's a fun activity that reveals to students the importance of accuracy and details when writing in science. Now you are ready to teaching students how to design and carry out a controlled experiment. Start with this classroom activity (Applying the Scientific Method and Scientific Writing) involving hypothetical situations. Forge ahead with a student-designed lab activity: The Scientific Method Lab. Students will plan and carryout the entire process from start to finish. Full disclosure ... This takes time and quite a bit of patience, but it is worth it. Your students will hone their problem solving and critical thinking skills as they complete these activities.
Heart pounding, rapid breathing, nightmares...yep, it's that time of year. Back to school...dun dun dun. Okay I actually may be a little dramatic there (ask anyone who knows me, it's not uncommon!). But seriously, every year I feel like this. The anxiety of the unknown plus the excitement of getting back into the classroom and teaching. I think that when I get to the point in my career that I don't feel like this it will be a sign to quit teaching. There are many things that I worry about before the school year starts. Will the dynamic in my room be good, will I be able to meet the needs of all of my students, will I be nice even on my grumpy days, will they like me, will the parents be nice, will I have my materials prepared, what if I mess up? The list goes on and on. It probably explains why I am a little tiny bit type-A about prepping my classroom (if you haven't noticed). What I can control now makes me feel a little better. In reality all of it is out of my control. I try to remember that my students are feeling just as anxious, and that it's okay. My hubs is losing his 'summer wife' and I know the house is going to be kind of a wreck until our first long break, but it's worth it. To add to the unknown I am getting an intern this year (woo hoo!). We start training together tomorrow and I'm really excited. For those of you who are not PA teachers, the preservice teachers had to choose pre k-4 or 4-8 for their certification. Kind of interesting and most likely not going to last, but in the meantime it means that 5th and 6th grade openings will be filled easier for the kids who chose 4-8th for their certification. So, as I count down my last few hours of summer, here are a few pins that I found inspiring as I began planning for this school year, and a fun purchase that I made to use in my room this year. Enjoy! Me By the Numbers - will be doing this on the first day of math with the kids. I think it'll be great for the cover of their binders! I'm going to try to add this in on the first day of school with my homeroom. I'll have them color a larger popsicle stick then put them in a shadow box to display with a team work inspired quote. I love owls, and this is just too cute. And finally, my new purchase! A doc cam! I'm so excited, this little guy has great reviews and was less than $100. Very affordable on a teacher budget. Amazon has it - the IPEVO Point 2 View USB camera.
Here's another post from my old blog: OK...so I'm a nerd. I love school and I cannot wait to get back. The kids are so adorable those first few weeks, during their "Honeymoon" phase. You know, when they're still too scared to try any nonsense. I've been busy getting my lessons together for the first few weeks. Here's some stuff I'm doing. Of course I have to read the No David Books by David Shannon. The kids love them--they're simple and funny, and make a great springboard for the big "classroom rules" discussion. One of the things we do is make David puppets. They are very easy to make (essential for any week 1 art projects!) They are copied on cardstock and glued to a tongue depressor. The kids color them in. It's a good time to talk about coloring expectations (Yes...you have to teach them how to color!) Because his face is a big wide space, it allows them to practice coloring in "all the way," and not just scribbling. They also have to cut out his face a nose, which is good, simple cutting practice and lets you see quickly who has scissors skills and who does not....
The Perfect Self-Portrait to Start the School Year Media & Techniques % %
I love learning about arrays because they are so visual which allows for a lot of really fun rectangular arrays activities and practice! I l...
